Massive civil service office complex approved for Manchester February 24, 2025 A huge new tech-focused Government office complex in Manchester has been given planning permission. The 5.5 acre project, which could support as many as 7,000 civil service jobs in the city, will bring together a range of government departments with a focus on technology. “The new digital campus plays to Manchester’s strengths. We have fostered [...]
As the US snubs Paris summit, how can we keep AI under control? February 11, 2025 The US and UK have refused to sign a declaration on AI safety at the Paris Summit. Is there a 'third way' for regulation, asks Russ Shaw.
CurrentBody: Owner of beauty tech firm used by Kim Kardashian and Serena Williams eyes £350m London Stock Exchange float February 4, 2025 The group behind beauty technology company CurrentBody is eyeing a float on the London Stock Exchange which could be worth £350m. The Beauty Tech Group has lined up Berenberg to lead the business through an initial public offering (IPO), according to a report first published by Sky News. The group is headquartered in Manchester and [...]
Politicians should drop their obsession with Silicon Valley January 30, 2025 Successive British politicians have reached for Silicon Valley – or the idea of Silicon Valley – every time they’ve wanted to project a vision of the future. In 2010 David Cameron set out plans to turn East London into “a world-leading tech city to rival Silicon Valley.” Seven years later, Theresa May’s government was still [...]
DeepSeek accused of using OpenAI’s models to train its viral bot January 29, 2025 OpenAI has accused Chinese competitor DeepSeek of using its models to train the competing system, violating its property rights. The ChatGPT maker claimed that its new Chinese competitor employed a technique called ‘distillation’ – when a smaller model learns from its larger counterpart – to develop its new chatbot. Donald Trump’s artificial intelligence adviser, David [...]
Rachel Reeves vows to fight for economic growth January 28, 2025 The Chancellor will declare that “growth won’t come without a fight” as she unveils her plan to turnaround Britain’s ailing economy with billions of pounds of investment and new infrastructure projects. Reeves will pledge an £80bn boom to the economy from a new Oxford-Cambridge Growth Corridor in a move that comes after the pensions industry [...]
CMA set for showdown with Amazon and Microsoft over cloud dominance January 28, 2025 The competition watchdog could be set for a showdown with Amazon and Microsoft after an independent inquiry group said the regulator should probe the two firms’ dominance in the cloud services market. After launching an investigation into the market in 2023, the inquiry group said today that competition in the £9bn sector was not working [...]
The AI divide: How do the UK and US strategies stack up? January 28, 2025 Safety-first vs shooting for the stars, the UK and US's approaches to AI appear worlds apart. But can they come together?
‘Tone deaf’: Much-hyped AI bot triggers backlash with mock Trump email January 21, 2025 Much-hyped AI startup Boardy faced backlash from users on Monday after a “tone-deaf” email campaign commented on its users’ appearance in the mock tone of Donald Trump. Boardy, a tech start-up which aims to forge connections between professionals, sent a mass email to its customers yesterday imitating the newly inaugurated president. However, users were left [...]
‘The Silicon Beach dream was a lie’: Onbuy quits home with parting shot January 16, 2025 Technology company Onbuy has quit its home town of Bournemouth and hit out at the local council saying there is no support for the industry. Chief executive Cas Paton took to LinkedIn to announce the news that the business will now mainly operate from London and New York. He added that while Onbuy “will always” [...]